Walking In A VR Future

neol'schmoe writes "There's a new solution to the age old problem of physical movement within a virtual world. Researchers in Japan have come up with tiles that move in concert with a user's pace and motion to allow free range of motion while literally walking in a virtual environment and never leaving a very small area in the real world."

Comments

What about the nausea problem?

[Jaywalk]

There's a new solution to the age old problem of physical movement within a virtual world.

IIRC it's not exactly new, Star Trek uses something like it to explain holodeck movement, although there's the usual handwaving about "force fields" instead of moving tiles. But the real issue is going to be nausea. The problem occurs both in VR situations and in more prosaic settings like motion sickness. If what your eyes tell you (you're moving) is out of sync with what your inner ear tells you (you're not moving) a lot of people get nauseous and toss their cookies. That's why folks who get car sick are okay if they keep looking out the window; their eyes tell them that they're moving, so it's in sync with their inner ear.

Could definitely be a downer if you're the next in line for that arcade game.

... oh, wow ...

[ninjagin]

I've been waiting for something like this for years. VR games and VR/VRML worlds have needed this like crazy for the longest time.

I can already think of improvements:

1. Scale up the 4-tile model for walking, and have a 12-tile model for running.

2. Force-feedback tiles for seismic or moving-walkway effectts.

3. cushiony lifting-tiles to simulate low-g walks/runs/jumps.

Of course, can you imagine the liability issues for a manufacturer of such a product?

Very neat. I can't wait to have one. When they have it work with Unreal Tournament, I'll be sold.